2-samuel 1:18
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
American King James Version (AKJV)
(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
American Standard Version (ASV)
(and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):
Basic English Translation (BBE)
(It is recorded in the book of Jashar for teaching to the sons of Judah) and he said:
Webster's Revision
(Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
World English Bible
(and he commanded them to teach the children of Judah [the song of] the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar):
English Revised Version (ERV)
And he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar.
Clarke's 2-samuel 1:18 Bible Commentary
The use of the bow - The use of is not in the Hebrew; it is simply the bow, that is, a song thus entitled. See the observations at the end, 2 Samuel 1:21 (note).
Barnes's 2-samuel 1:18 Bible Commentary
The use of the bow - Omit "the use of." "The bow" is the name by which this dirge was known, being so called from the mention of Jonathan's bow in 2 Samuel 1:22. The sense would then be: And he commanded them to teach the children of Israel the song called Kasheth (the bow), i. e. he gave directions that the song should be learned by heart (compare Deuteronomy 31:19). It has been further suggested that in the Book of Jasher there was, among other things, a collection of poems, in which special mention was made of the bow. This was one of them. 1 Samuel 2:1-10 was another; Numbers 21:27-30 was another; Lamentations 2 was another; Lamentations 3 was another; Jacob's blessing Genesis 49; Moses' song Deuteronomy 32; perhaps his Blessing (Deuteronomy 33. See 2 Samuel 1:29); and such Psalms as Psalm 44; Psalm 46:1-11; Psalm 76:1-12, etc.; Habakkuk 3; and Zechariah 9:9-17, also belonged to it. The title by which all the poems in this collection were distinguished was קשׁת qesheth, "the bow." When therefore the writer of 2 Samuel ransferred this dirge from the Book of Jasher to his own pages, he transferred it, as we might do any of the Psalms, with its title.
The book of Jasher - See the marginal reference note.
Wesley's 2-samuel 1:18 Bible Commentary
1:18 Judah - These he more particularly teacheth, because they were the chief, and now the royal tribe, and likely to be the great bulwark to all Israel against the Philistines, upon whose land they bordered; and withal, to be the most true to him, and to his interest.The bow - That is, of their arms, expressed, under the name of the bow, which then was one of the chief weapons; and for the dextrous use whereof Jonathan is commended in the following song: which may be one reason, why he now gives forth this order, that so they might strive to imitate Jonathan in military skill, and to excel in it, as he did. Jasher - It is more largely and particularly described in the book of Jasher.
